Instructions:Cut out the origami

square and follow the step-by-step instructions to create your very own

origami honeybee!

MAKE YOUR OWN

Fold in half both ways

1

Fold in half diagonally

2

4

Fold the top point down to meet the bottom

edge

7

Fold both bottom corners up to make

a diamond

8

Fold wings down, angled like this

Fold the bee’s head back like this

5 6

Make a small fold at the tip

9

Finished!

Fold in half to look like this

3Activity

origami bug

Honeybees have been providing humans with honey for at least 8,000 years. They have an essential role in the world’s ecosystem as pollinators, without which most of our food crops wouldn’t reproduce or grow fruit.

The Asian giant hornet is one of the honeybee’s most lethal enemies. Due to its size, armour, and appetite, most bees don’t stand a chance.

The hornets send out scouts to find food. If the bees don’t manage to kill the scout,

it signals other hornets who come and destroy the hive and steal the larvae to

feed their own. However, the Japanese honeybee has devised an ingenious defence.

They mob the scout hornet, and raise the temperature

by vibrating their wing muscles incredibly fast.

Japanese honeybees can survive slightly hotter temperatures than the hornets, so the scout hornet gets cooked to death. Honeybees are the masters of teamwork.

Japanese honeybee (Apis cerana japonica)

Co-operative comrades

Bees work together as a team to defeat their enemy, but how are they built? Try making a physical 3-D representation of a bee or your favourite bug out of playdough, Lego, or paper mâché.

The more accurate you try to make your bug, the more scientific you’ll be because you’ll be learning to look for the details of the bug and attempting to understand what you see.

Think about proportions like leg length to body length, and antennae length. Consider which parts hinge and which parts are soft, flexible, or solid. Can you build that into your model? Look closely and ask questions.

• Are there spikes on the leg?

• Does the bug have hairs on its body?

• Are there wing cases?

• Are there two wings or four?

• How many different colours is the bug?

• What are the patterns?

Materials:• Playdough or modelling clay• Paper craft material

Optional extras:• Modelling wire• Lego• Papier mâché• Corrugated cardboard• Pipecleaners

MAKE YOUR OWN BUG AT HOME Activity

Rendered by Dane Madgwick, Weta Workshop

Be creative and colour up your own bee design using felt-tip pens, crayons or colour pencils.

DESIGN YOUR OWN HONEYBEE

Activity

species of

They are all members of the insect order called Hymenoptera